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Pope warns of Orwellian news
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In a speech, Pope Leo XIV stressed the significance of freedom of expression and warned at the same time that the “mark of words is becoming increasingly fluid” and even “a weapon” used to deceive or punish opponents.

It was in its first major speech to the ambassadors about the state of the world that the pope spoke of war, multilateralism and human rights, but also the importance of words and language.

Some of the speech devoted the pope to warn about how “a new Orwellian language is developing” which, even if it claims to be inclusive, ultimately excludes those who do not adapt.
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Photo: Carl Johan Erikson/Faksimil
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The Pope also said that “freedom of expression is guaranteed precisely by the certainty of language and the fact that every term is rooted in the truth.” At the same time, he noted that the scope for genuine freedom of speech is shrinking rapidly in the Western world.

Words mean he must be used to once again “express clear and clear realities”, something that is of the utmost importance to be able to engage in a “genuine dialogue”.
1984

With “Orwellian” refers to the type of language that George Orwell warned about in his 1946 essay. He argued that political writing often turns concrete realities into airy generalizations. Orwell dramatized the same idea in 1984 with “newspeak”, a controlled vocabulary designed to shrink what people might say.

The pope also condemned jihadist violence and addressed the persecution of Christians and called it “one of the most widespread human rights crises today, affecting over 380 million believers worldwide.”